OK, have heated night box, have vinyl door strips (thanks for the tips) so he can come and go and I leave the night box heated during the day. BUT, he comes out, hangs out, and then goes into the goat pen and burrows into the straw in an igloo. So, is he allowed to choose to be chilly during the day, with me transferring him at night back to night box (and my back is getting sore...) or does he need to be locked up for his own good or...?
More questions re tortoise and chilly days.
- Thread starter Ellie Mae
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They don't always know what's good for them. Once he's finished wandering around I'd put him back in his night box. Any chance you can move the night box over to the goat pen? You can remove the igloo so it's not there for him to go to. But if you continue to put him in the night box, he'll eventually get the idea.
When it comes to cold, sulcatas will frequently make the wrong choice, so yes, your intervention is needed. There is no "too cold" where they evolved because they just go into their underground burrows at night, and its hot every day. Not like here.
They choose to park where they park for a variety of reasons. They don't choose a spot based on temperatures, because there is no space in their native range that is not the right temperature. I'd have to walk your property and assess the area to tell what would be best to do, but the easy solution is to not fight the tortoise. You didn't have time to establish the routine of returning to the night box before winter set in, so just get an extension cord and move the heated box to where he wants to be. Run the cord in 2" conduit and/or bury it to keep the goats from gnawing at it.
Or, can you close off the goat area to him? Its okay to contain them in an area that's a little too small when you are trying to teach them to return to their night box for a few weeks. Especially in winter. Consider how this tactic might work in your space. We might have some tips if you show us pics of the yard.
Another concern: Tortoise eat feces. If you are treating any of your other animals with certain wormers or other medicines and your tortoise eats their pellets, it could kill him. Just wanted to make sure you are aware of this potential danger. And even if the tortoise is not eating the raisinettes right now, he could start tomorrow, or in spring, or in two years...
They choose to park where they park for a variety of reasons. They don't choose a spot based on temperatures, because there is no space in their native range that is not the right temperature. I'd have to walk your property and assess the area to tell what would be best to do, but the easy solution is to not fight the tortoise. You didn't have time to establish the routine of returning to the night box before winter set in, so just get an extension cord and move the heated box to where he wants to be. Run the cord in 2" conduit and/or bury it to keep the goats from gnawing at it.
Or, can you close off the goat area to him? Its okay to contain them in an area that's a little too small when you are trying to teach them to return to their night box for a few weeks. Especially in winter. Consider how this tactic might work in your space. We might have some tips if you show us pics of the yard.
Another concern: Tortoise eat feces. If you are treating any of your other animals with certain wormers or other medicines and your tortoise eats their pellets, it could kill him. Just wanted to make sure you are aware of this potential danger. And even if the tortoise is not eating the raisinettes right now, he could start tomorrow, or in spring, or in two years...
Omg! Haven't heard goat poo be called RAISENETTES!!!! How appropriate! Love it!!!! I think I'll start picking raisins out of my trail mix
It's just the setup process, don't give up yet. Once you're all set up the maintenance part is the easiest
Once they are set up and get into the right routine, its really not much work at all.
Right. As opposed to "milk duds" from camels. As in: "Want a milk dud?"
So what he did all afternoon is circle the goat pen trying to get in until I gave up and locked him in his night box around 4. There are reasons I can't move his dog house/night box closer or into the goat pen. I suspect he likes the straw to burrow in, short of commissioning an entire new night box where I can separate the heater from the straw or whatever other potentially flammable material looks like this is my life. Don't other tortoises do fine without burrowing material? Wonder what I'm going to do if I'd like to spend a night away, not everyone is up to lugging 40 lb tortoises around... sigh.
I use a radiant oil filled heater so there is no fire danger. They don't get hot enough. I put mine up on a shelf in his box. Others build a fence type barrier around it to keep the tortoise from getting to it. I put hay on the floor of my Sulcatas box.
Most of them learn to use their boxes within a few weeks, so this should not be a long term problem for you.
One technique I use is to build a small round pen around the door to the night box. I make it so the door is right in front of the tortoise and there is no where else to go and no "safe zone" except inside the box. I open up the small pen during the day, and close them back in the small pen in the afternoon.
We are just guessing here. Pics of the night box and surrounding area would really help us to give you specific tips on how to solve this problem faster.
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Eating the fecal pellets of herbivorous mammals is something a great many tortoises do, and is an important diet item for many species in the wild. Even when animals that can ruminant drop raisinettes or milk duds they are leaving many nutrients behind in that small deposit of partially digested grass and leaves. The relative protein and some other nutrients is higher than the original fodder.
As another example desert iguanas seek and eat rat turds as they are often much higher in nutrients than the fodder the iguanas would eat directly. And they are in convenient sizes for the mouth of the iguana. Serrated tortoises have a high proportion of their diet in the form of hoof stock feces, often all dumped in a communal toilet (in the wild) so it is a reliable place to find good food.
That a sulcata does this is normal, the content of the goat feces may or may not be desirable, but the tortoises is doing what it would do in the region of the world they come from. You might check to fecal parasite load of your goats, if it is very low or zero, likely no harm. All outside tortoises will pick up some worm like parasites no matter what you do to prevent it through diet.
If you had a food grade irradiator I'd suggest you could feed the feces out on purpose once treated.
As another example desert iguanas seek and eat rat turds as they are often much higher in nutrients than the fodder the iguanas would eat directly. And they are in convenient sizes for the mouth of the iguana. Serrated tortoises have a high proportion of their diet in the form of hoof stock feces, often all dumped in a communal toilet (in the wild) so it is a reliable place to find good food.
That a sulcata does this is normal, the content of the goat feces may or may not be desirable, but the tortoises is doing what it would do in the region of the world they come from. You might check to fecal parasite load of your goats, if it is very low or zero, likely no harm. All outside tortoises will pick up some worm like parasites no matter what you do to prevent it through diet.
If you had a food grade irradiator I'd suggest you could feed the feces out on purpose once treated.
Oh my, so much to learn! thanks for the info though I probably won't be doing THAT!!
That's a thought re smaller enclosure around box. More work making tortoise proof fence though! Will see what I can come up with in my "spare" time
I use cinder blocks or slumpstone blocks. I stack them 3 high and stagger the middle row with a half block. A 40 pounder shouldn't be able to push through that too easily.
